Abu Dhabi / WAM Waha Capital has announced the extension of maturity of its collar hedges over the approximate 4 million shares it owns in New York-listed AerCap Holdings N.V. This extension forms part of the company’s wider hedging and financing strategy over its shares in AerCap. This strategy, which limits downside equity market risk for Waha Capital, was originally …

  Dubai / WAM The Buildings Department of Dubai Municipality is undertaking engineering supervision of 25,124 buildings under construction in various areas of the Emirate of Dubai. The engineering supervision process includes inspection and control of all construction works. Building permits were issued for various kinds of multi-storied buildings, general and industrial buildings, private villas and investment villas as well as …

  Sharjah / WAM Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Nama Women Advancement Establishment and wife of H.H. the Ruler of Sharjah, has hailed the leap forward taken by Emirati women on the road to progress and excellence, shoulder to shoulder with men in every sphere of activity, thanks to the UAE leadership’s constant support and abiding faith …

  Accumoli / AFP A powerful pre-dawn earthquake devastated mountain villages in central Italy on Wednesday, leaving at least 73 people dead, dozens more injured or trapped under the rubble and thousands temporarily homeless. Scores of buildings were reduced to dusty piles of masonry in communities close to the epicentre of the pre-dawn quake, which had a magnitude of between …

  Pattani / AFP A car bomb exploded in a nightlife district in Thailand’s deep south, killing one and wounding more than 30, in a nation already on edge after a bombing spree that targeted tourist towns. The latest blast struck late Tuesday outside a hotel in Pattani, one of three Muslim-majority southern provinces battered by a long-running and shadowy rebellion …

  Yangon / AFP Former UN chief Kofi Annan will advise Myanmar’s new government on resolving conflicts in Rakhine, a region divided on religious grounds and home to the stateless Muslim Rohingya, it was announced on Wednesday. The country’s western state is deeply scarred by bouts of sectarian bloodshed in 2012 that forced more than 100,000 Rohingya into squalid displacement camps. …

  Seoul / AFP North Korea on Wednesday test-fired a submarine-launched missile 500 kilometres (around 300 miles) towards Japan, marking what weapons analysts called a clear step forward for its nuclear strike ambitions. The flight distance, which was tracked by South Korea’s military Joint Chiefs of Staff, far exceeded any previous SLBM tests, suggesting significant progress in technical prowess. A …

  Manila / AFP President Rodrigo Duterte has said his threat to pull the Philippines out of the United Nations for criticising his deadly crime war was just a “joke”, while attempting a light-hearted wordplay on genocide. Duterte on Sunday said he may withdraw the Philippines from the world body after a UN human rights expert said last week his encouragement …

  New York / AFP Donald Trump stepped up his attacks on Hillary Clinton as her campaign battled to silence suggestions that donors to her family’s charity paid for access when she was America’s top diplomat. The Democratic nominee, looking to make history as America’s first female commander-in-chief, is polling well ahead of her Republican rival but has hit choppy waters …

  Karkamis / AFP Turkish tanks and hundreds of opposition fighters thrust deep inside Syrian territory on Wednesday in a lightning operation that within hours ousted IS extremists from a key Syrian border town. The air and ground offensive—the most ambitious launched by Ankara in the Syria conflict—made rapid progress towards Jarabulus with rebel fighters already proclaiming victory by the late …